Rapture
by Sahara Storm
Summary: [Oneshot, ManatsuIchika] Could you be loved, and be loved?


**Title:** Rapture

**Fandom:** Uta Kata

**Pairing:** Manatsu/Ichika

**Rating: **PG

**Word Count:** 650

**Summary/Description: **Could you be loved, and be loved?

**Warning/Spoilers:** Slight spoilers for a couple episodes near the end.

**A/N: **Yeah, I like Bob Marley. I love this pairing, even though it's a tiny bit one-sided. :)

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Uta Kata.

* * *

Manatsu likes to watch Ichika sleep.

On the rare days that Ichika retires before her, and is curled up under the covers with her hair spilling all over her pillows and her breath coming slow and even, Manatsu sits on the edge of her bed, and looks at her.

Young as she is, she knows what love is, and she knows how to isolate and identify it in herself. She _loves_ Ichika, loves her so much that it is ridiculous, banal, that the girl on the other side of the mirror could make such a fountain of emotion well up inside of her. It doesn't make sense, because she is Ichika, and Ichika is her, and Manatsu knows that she doesn't love herself this much, if at all.

Most nights, as she sits there watching Ichika as she sleeps and dreams and rests peacefully with little knowledge of the painful things to come, Manatsu apologises. She likes to think that that makes it better, on some levels. She gives Ichika awkward hugs and kisses her forehead and presses her lips to her ear and mutters "I'm so very sorry" like a litany of misery. She tells her little things that she hopes will give her strength, but she never says too much, because at the edge of her consciousness, she can feel Saya-san, ever present, ever watching.

And when Ichika begins to toss and turn, grimacing, eyes restless behind pale lids, Manatsu can only hold her hand. It is the dream, she knows. Manatsu knows this nightmare; she has lived it, in her every waking moment.

* * *

Manatsu lies on her side, eyes closed on the dark, and knows that Ichika is watching her.

She hears the little sighs, the small frustrated sounds she makes as she thinks and wonders and ruminates and vacillates. Manatsu's heart aches, because it cannot be easy for Ichika to have all these conflicting feelings. And it is of course made harder by the fact that Manatsu cannot breathe a word about it all to her. Not for the first time, she curses the rules.

Ichika's shadow falls over her, and Manatsu squeezes her eyes shut tighter. She is saying something beneath her breath; Manatsu cannot make it out. What she can recognize, though, is the unadulterated hurt in Ichika's voice. This time, Manatsu curses herself, once, and then again when Ichika rests an easy hand on her shoulder. She feels the gentleness in that touch, and knows that Ichika loves her, and Manatsu grinds her teeth together because she does not deserve it. She does not deserve it.

Even knowing the obvious pain her other half is experiencing, Manatsu cannot bring herself to shed a tear.

* * *

Manatsu likes to watch Ichika sleep, but it is even better when she is lying right next to her, holding her hand.

"Manatsu-chan, do you like me?" Ichika asked a couple minutes ago, and though she was only teasing, Manatsu is still thinking about the question as she grasps Ichika's hand, warm and dry in her own.

She blushes slightly, and turns towards Ichika, who is now asleep. Her honey brown tresses are wild across the pillows, and they tangle with some of Manatsu's mint green locks. The contrast is fascinating.

The question doesn't bear thinking about; Manatsu doesn't like Ichika, she _loves_ her, though everything that she is doing goes against that very sentiment. She wishes more than everything that she didn't have to do what she has to do, that this summer can pass in a daze of happiness and laughter and love. It can't, but that doesn't stop Manatsu from wishing. She would do anything to keep Ichika from the pain that awaits her.

Manatsu holds Ichika's hand tighter and presses a kiss to her cheek. She just hopes that before the end, she can find a way to prove it all to Ichika.

* * *

**A/N:** Feedback appreciated. :)


End file.
